Maverick Vinales has won a rain-delayed and shortened Qatar MotoGP season-opener in a triumphant Yamaha debut for the young Spaniard.

Italian Andrea Dovizioso was second for Ducati with 38-year-old compatriot Valentino Rossi back on the podium in third for Yamaha under the floodlights.

Honda’s reigning world champion Marc Marquez finished fourth on an eventful evening that saw 22-year-old compatriot Vinales drop from pole to fifth on the opening lap before making a stirring comeback for his second career victory.

“It feels great. The track was so difficult,” Vinales said.

“First lap I was taking a lot of care, then when the people started to push I said ‘OK, now is the time to push’ and I started to come back little by little – I didn’t want to destroy so much the tyre. Anyway, the bike was great.”

Rossi, a nine times world champion, started 10th and raced with a camera dangling off the back of his bike after making contact with Britain’s Cal Crutchlow into the first corner.

“If I had to bet on me, on my podium today, I don’t bet for sure,” said the happy Italian.

“But we never gave up. We tried the maximum, we tried three or four different settings this morning… but I enjoyed it a lot.”

Australia’s Jack Miller finished eighth on his Honda.

The season’s only night race started 45 minutes late after earlier rain, with plenty of discussion among the riders who did two warm-up laps before Vinales took his position at the front of the grid.

The race distance was shortened to 20 laps.